Commemoration of the Martyrdom of the 21 Coptic Christians of Libya.

[Mark Sadek]

Commemoration of the Martyrdom of the 21 Coptic Christians of Libya.

On February 12, 2015, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) released a report in their online magazine Dabiq showing photos of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christian migrant workers that they had kidnapped in the city of Sirte, Libya, and whom they threatened to kill to "avenge the [alleged] kidnapping of Muslim women by the Egyptian Coptic Church". The men, who came from different villages in Egypt, 13 of them from Al-Our, Minya Governorate, were kidnapped in Sirte in two separate attacks on December 27, 2014, and in January 2015.

On February 15, a five-minute video was published, showing the beheading of the captives on a beach along the southern Mediterranean coast. A caption in the video called the captives the "people of the cross, followers of the hostile Egyptian Church". In the video one of the killers in camouflage declared in North-American English:

"Oh people, recently you've seen us on the hills of Al-Sham [Greater Syria] and on Dabiq's Plain, chopping off the heads that had been carrying the cross delusion for a long time, filled with spite against Islam and Muslims, and today we... are sending another message: Oh crusaders, safety for you will be only wishes especially when you're fighting us all together, therefore we will fight you all together until the war lays down its burdens and Jesus peace be upon him will descend, breaking the cross, killing the swine. The sea you've hidden Sheikh Osama bin Laden's body in, we swear to Allah we will mix it with your blood."

After beheading the hostages, a message appears on the screen: "The filthy blood is just some of what awaits you, in revenge for Camelia and her sisters" (referencing Camelia Shehata, a Coptic Egyptian woman and wife of a Coptic priest who Islamists believe had converted to Islam and was detained by the Coptic Church because of it. She later denied the claim). Finally the speaker declares "We will conquer Rome, by Allah’s permission," pointing his knife toward the sea. As in other ISIL videos, the captives wore orange jumpsuits, intended as a reference to the attire of prisoners in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. The group of killers identified itself in the video as the "Tripoli Province" of ISIL. The leader of the squad performing the killings was identified as a Libyan expatriate who goes by the nom de guerre Al Qaqa'a Ben Omro.

The Coptic Church of Egypt, Egyptian government, as well as the Libyan parliament, confirmed the deaths.

On February 21, 2015 Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, announced that the 21 murdered Copts would be commemorated as martyr saints on the 8th Amshir of the Coptic calendar, which is February 15 of the Gregorian calendar.

After the beheadings, the Coptic Orthodox Church released their names, but there were only 20 names. It was later learned that the 21st martyr was named Mathew Ayairga and that he was from Chad. He was originally a non-Christian, but he saw the immense faith of the others, and when the terrorists asked him if he rejected Jesus, he reportedly said, "Their God is my God", knowing that he would be killed.

The names of the Holy Martyrs:

Bishoy Adel Khalaf

Samuel Alhoam Wilson

Hany Abdel-Masih Salib

Melad Mackeen Zaki

Abanoub Ayad Attia

Ezzat Bushra Nassif

Yousef Shokry Younan

Kirillos Shukry Fawzy

Maged Suleiman Shehata

Somali Stéphanos Kamel

Malak Ibrahim Siniot

Bishoy Stéphanos Kamel

Mena Fayez Aziz Girgis

Melad Sniout

Tawadros Youssef Tawadros

Essam Badr Samir

Luke Ngati

Jaber Mounir Adly

Malak Faraj Abram

Sameh Salah Farouk

Matthew Ayariga

May Their prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.